Experimental Determination of the Braking Behavior of an Alternative Front Мultilink Motorcycle Suspension

Abstract braking of the motorcycle is a critical aspect that must be considered when investigating traffic safety, which is an ever-present problem that requires extensive research and alternative solutions. This requires that motorcycles be designed with a certain self stability. One of the methods to increase the stability can be achieved is the development of an alternative suspension. The purpose of this publication is to investigate the behavior of a motorcycle front suspension borrowed from the automotive industry - the “multilink” type. A series of road experiments were conducted where the motorcycle stopped on a dry, level stretch of asphalt pavement. Since the designed suspension is new and under investigation, for safety reasons the experiment was conducted using only the front brake. Also, the initial speed from which the braking begin has been reduced. This does not affect the results, because as known from the theory of the car, the maximum braking deceleration is not a function of the speed, but depends on the realized braking force and the traction coefficient. The motorcycle stops from an initial speed of 20 km/h to a complete stop. Experimentally was determined the deformation in the front and rear suspension, the lateral and vertical acceleration, the. The pitch angle and load transfer - are numerically determined. The experimental data were processed in MATLAB software. The test results can be used for suspension optimization.